Illini Bottle Up Kansas
Illinois looked pretty in blowing out its first two NCAA tournament foes. Against Kansas, the Illini showed they know how to win ugly, too.
Frank Williams scored a career-high 30 points as top-seeded Illinois used a solid first half to control the Jayhawks, then held them off with a plodding, foul-filled second half for an 80-64 victory Friday night.
Illinois (27-7) will play Arizona, the No. 2 seed, on Sunday in the Midwest Regional final. It'll be their third meeting of the season, with each team having won once. The Wildcats beat Mississippi 66-56 Friday night.
Illinois' Bill Self became the first coach to take different teams to the final eight in consecutive years. He guided Tulsa to the Midwest final last year, then took over the Illini in June after Lon Kruger went to the NBA's Atlanta Hawks.
Kansas (26-7) ended its longest tournament run since '97. After trailing by 14 early in the second half, the Jayhawks got within five twice then were outscored 10-0 over the final 1:24 to make the game look more lopsided than it really was.
Kansas players had hoped to make it to the Final Four as a reward to coach Roy Williams, who decided to remain at the school this season instead of going to his alma mater, North Carolina.
|
Illinois, which last weekend beat Northwestern State by 42 and Charlotte by 18, is enjoying its best run in the tournament since reaching the Final Four in 1989, the only other time the school was seeded first. The Illini and Michigan State give the Big Ten two teams among the final eight.
Williams the Big Ten player of the year, hit 11-of-24 shots, including 3-of-7 on 3-pointers, and all five free throws he tried. His previous high was 27 against next-round opponent Arizona.
The Illini needed his big night to offset Cory Bradford going 1-of-13, 1-of-9 on 3-pointers. Sergio McLain had 10 points and 10 rebounds and Illinois got 28 points from its vaunted reserves, with Luke Johnson contributing 15 points and eight rebounds.
Nick Collison led Kansas with 23 points, but he hurt the Jayhawks down the stretch by missing five straight free throws. He was 6-of-14 at the line and the Jayhawks were a wretched 18-of-35. They also were outrebounded 45-33 after averaging 27 more boards than their opponents last weekend.
Drew Gooden, who averaged 18.5 points in the first two rounds, had 13 points and nine rebounds. Kirk Hinrich, his game thrown off by chasing Williams, fouled out with 13 points and six rebounds.
Illinois stole control early with tight defense and quick hands. The Illini forced the Jayhawks, who average 16 turnovers a game, to commit 14 turnovers in the opening half, stealing eight of them.
Illinois used nine turnovers in a 4:33 span to trigger an 11-0 run. Along the way, Kansas went almost 10 minutes between field goals and took just four shots in the first nine minutes.
The Illini could've blown the game open, but players kept missing open shots. They'd often fake their defender into the air, step aside and clang the ball off the iron or backboard.
With Illinois making only five of its first 20 shots, the Jayhawks sneaked within two at 23-21 about five minutes before halftime. Then Williams hit two 3-pointers and the Illini pulled out to a 41-29 lead at the break.
There were few highlights in a second half that was bogged down by 15 fouls by Illinois and 13 by Kansas.
©2001 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed